In the aerospace industry today, mainly organic matrix, and continuous fibers composites based on epoxy resins and carbon fibers are widely used.
The level of use of this type of structures has been gradually increasing, particularly in the aeronautics industry, to a point where epoxy matrix and carbon fiber composites can be considered the option used most in a wide variety of structural components. This has forced and continues to force the development of manufacturing processes capable of producing components with the required quality in a repetitive manner and with a manufacturing cost that is appropriate for the component to be manufactured. The tool plays a fundamental role in this aspect, so the elimination or reduction thereof is one of the key points in making the production process less expensive.
It can generally be considered that a large integration of components in a single manufacturing cycle implies a very complex and therefore expensive and difficult to use tool system. On the other hand, the manufacture of simple components joined together in a final bonding or riveting process usually implies much simpler tools and less costly and more reliable systems of manufacturing the components themselves. However, this last system has obvious disadvantages from the point of view of the complexity of the production system as a large number of components must be worked with, and from the point of view of the structure itself as it implies complex surface preparation systems prior to bonding and, of course, a final product weight increase.
It therefore seems evident that any production system that allows producing components with a high structural integration level but with a reduced or nonexistent tool system would address the drawbacks indicated above. This would enable the production of more cost-effective structures while at the same time having a high integration level and therefore lower final weight.
The known processes of manufacturing organic matrix and continuous fiber composite structures, using both co-cured, co-bonding or secondary bonding systems, are always based on oven, vacuum bag and/or autoclave curing systems with a tool that is external to the component to be manufactured, which has a variable complexity level according to the complexity and level of responsibility of the final piece to be manufactured.
The present invention relates to a more efficient process for manufacturing said structures.